21,000 Staten Islanders were unemployed in March

View full sizeAssociated PressPotential workers line up at a Manhattan job fair.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Although the borough's unemployment rate dropped to 8.7 percent in March, compared to 9.1 percent in February, a total of 21,000 Staten Islanders are still out of work, according to state Department of Labor statistics.

All five boroughs of New York City saw similar dips in the employment rate; citywide, that figure fell to 9.8 percent, compared to 10.1 percent in February.

Across the board, however, unemployment has grown compared to March 2011 statistics.

Statewide, 21,500 private sector jobs were added in March 2012, the Labor Department reported. Officials said the state's private sector job count of 7,317,400 stands at an all-time high.

"What we have recouped now surpasses the total private sector jobs lost during the state's recession in 2008-2009," said Bohdan M. Wynnyk, deputy director of the Labor Department's Division of Research and Statistics.